March 1, 2012 AT 12:55 pm

Khan Academy offers JavaScript as their first computer language

John Resig of jQuery fame outlines why Khan Academy decided to offer JavaScript as their first computer language. With video, of course.

Khan Academy, the wildly successful series of free instructional videos, proved YouTube is good for more than kitten videos. Now an educational powerhouse, Khan Academy has trained “students” in a variety of math and science topics, and decided to add a computer language to their topics. There are many choices, but Khan Academy settled on JavaScript.

Khan Academy viewers skew young, so keeping their attention with something fun and graphical that provides some early success feedback is critical. Resig admits JavaScript, as a language, has its warts and issues, but so do all languages. And since young programmers to be must start somewhere, Khan Academy decided JavaScript is where to start.